RomanPunks is a retrofuturistic, cyberpunk derivative world-building project inspired by fine art, history and the cryptopunk movement.
A total of 1,000 RomanPunk characters have been frozen in time and minted as Non Fungible Tokens (NFTs) on the Ethereum, WAX, Polygon and Algorand blockchains.
RomanPunk characters are comprised of commoners and famous individuals based on Roman history, art history and pop culture.
The basis for RomanPunk lore and backstories is exhaustively researched by history/sci-fi buff and co-founder, Punktavian.
All images are drawn by hand by woman artist and co-founder, Cleopunktra, without the aid of AI or generative tools.
RomanPunks came into existence through early minting on OpenSea, promoting on Twitter and building a Discord community through giveaways and engagement. The idea of a cyberpunk-derivative ‘RomanPunk’ theme was in our heads for years, but it was the success of the Cryptopunks that became the catalyst for project conception and launch.
After a hard working first 60 days spent networking and attracting new collectors to RomanPunks, our community had begun to flourish and sales increased. We began to offer our collectors an opportunity to battle their NFTs in a tournament bracket powered by dice rolls.
Encouraged by the tight knit community and the carbon-neutral blockchain with lightning fast and low cost transactions, we launched 'romanpunksio' collection on WAX Blockchain as the first step to expand the backstories of our RomanPunk characters and the baseline for future development of a card game.
RomanPunks integrated with Chainlink Labs to utilize VRF (Verified Randomness Function) to host a giveaway raffle for our holders. We developed a smart contract on Ethereum which guarantees true random number selection on chain and can be used for a wide range of functions that require random selection.
After much anticipation in the community, we released our first WAX NFT card 'pack' through the Neftyblocks platform, which sold out in less than a week.
We launched our Twitch channel and begun building an audience by offering numerous giveaways of WAX NFTs from our collection, as well as giving participants a chance to win RomanPunk ETH NFT airdrops for taking top spot at the end of the 'season'.
As firm believers in a metaverse future and land owners in The Sandbox, we undertook to build the RomanPunk Colosseum on 1x1 land and entered our experience "Gladiator Bloodsport" into a GameJam contest. We will continue to build the Colosseum into a PVP arena and social hub once The Sandbox offers creators the ability to do so.
Thanks to the user friendly tools offered by NeftyBlocks, we launched a comprehensive blending system on WAX, allowing our collectors to blend the common NFTs they earn in our Discord RPG up into Legendary famous NFTs through the use of blending 'coins' that can also be earned on the Discord as reward for helping to promote the RomanPunks project.
We launched the VX collection on Polygon. Each owner of an ETH NFT gets their voxel equivalent airdropped to them, and these NFTs can be redeemed for official NFTs on The Sandbox Marketplace once available.
All 1,000 original, unique 1:1 RomanPunk characters hand drawn by Cleopunktra and minted on OpenSea.
The RomanPunk WAX NFT Trading Card Fighter Pack Series II consists of 3 NFTs randomly selected from over 236 characters.
Upcoming plans for RomanPunks include:
Below is a comprehensive and searchable directory of all 1,000 RomanPunk Characters.
Omarosa, born 321 BC in Babylon, is an illegitimate child of Alexander the Great trained to kill from a young age. Fearing nothing, she volunteered to enter an interdimensional portal in an attempt to conquer more worlds in the name of her dying father.
Born 41 AD in Rome, Aericus is a senator masquerading as an actor to be closer to his forbidden love, a pleb Philetus, star of Virgil’s Aeneid.
Born in 157 AD in Singidunum to a patrician family with an abusive father, Bruttia fled to Asia as a teenager to where she learned the way of the samurai. On her return home, she was captured and forced to fight as a gladiator in Pula.
Born in 2169 AD in Syracusae, Zino was a logistics officer in Rome’s hellacious campaign against the Dacian vampire scourge. Now a pencil-necked attorney and accountant for the profligate Governor Mazar, Zino finds himself torn between helping his old comrades uncover the grisly murder of a cyborg pleasurebot and maintaining his precarious position in the baroque society of Neo-Carthage. The stakes are even higher as suspicions point towards his employer, forcing Zino to navigate a perilous path where loyalty and self-preservation are constantly at odds.
Born 121 BC in Jutland, Cindi was a defiant warrior captured and enslaved by Gaius Marius at the Battle of Vercellae. Refusing to submit to concubinage, she was dispatched to an atomic age alternate dimension where she toils as a scullery maid and comfortess in a high-altitude air cruise liner zeppelin.
Born in 111 AD in Rome, Herbertus is a soldier of the Lost Cohort, which disappeared on campaign in Caledonia. Muco and his comrades were transported to an alternate dimension where they were equipped with hi-tech weapons and armor by sympathetic druid hackers seeking new allies.
Born 2171 AD in Eblana, Rian served as a ballistarius in the bloody and costly Dacian vampire war. His alcoholic patrician father gambled away their family fortune, so Rian became a drifter, working odd jobs including chariot salesman and part-time gigolo in Neo-Carthage. After witnessing a murder at the Atlanta Hotel, Rian reluctantly finds himself drawn into a plot to blackmail the culprit, where his desire to maintain a transient, low-responsibility lifestyle clashes with an emerging sense of justice and loyalty.
Born 2190 AD in Naissus, Varik rose to prominence as the head of an interdimensional conglomerate specializing in nano processors for A.I. star freighters. Secretly harbouring a licentious penchant for cyborg supermodels, he turns a blind eye to his wife Lexia’s nocturnal indulgences, as the two maintain an unblemished public facade for the good of the company and the empire.
Born 1955 AD in Tolosa, Ricki is a hairdresser, gossip, and fan of Italo disco who mixed up her cell phone for an interdimensional portal device and was transferred to the 1st century AD where she continues to cut hair and spread rumours in the public baths.
Born 390 AD in Jutland, Cyra is an interdimensional traveler attempting to change history by turning the tide of battle in the Cimbrian War by seeking out her ancestor, Brenna, and sharing knowledge and technology from the future to defeat Marius.
Born 2182 AD in Naissus, Rada runs an antique photo booth shop in Neo-Carthage’s souk. Armed with a vintage Hasselblad and a closet of outfits spanning millennia, she offers customers a chance to step into another era. But rumors swirl that her collection isn’t just for show—some say she holds a device for interdimensional travel, turning her shop into a refuge for outlaws, exiles, and time-stranded wanderers. Rada remains as inscrutable as her wares, guarding her secrets behind a wry smile and a haze of smoke.
Born 498 AD in Gamla Uppsala, Tola’s travels saw her migrate south to Dacia where she served the Gepid kings as a vampire hunter.
Born in 333 AD in Singidunum, Jez spent his entire life in the city of his birth as a loyal guard, helping defend against invading Sarmatians. He befriended his commander Theodosius, who, after becoming Roman Emperor, hired Jez as an interdimensional henchman.
Born 1970 AD in Lugdunum, Vibrian was abducted through an interdimensional portal and forced to fight in the cybercolossea of the 28th century. A Savate and Capoeira master, he won his freedom after a legendary, crippling bout against a Belgic kickboxer, leaving the arena behind to hitchhike the galaxy. Now an intergalactic nomad, Vibrian drifts through neon-lit cities and cosmic discotheques, embracing a life unbound by purpose, where the only rhythm he follows is his own.
Born 103 BC in Perinthus, Deif was a slave who toiled as an interdimensional drug mule until freed by his degenerate equestrian master who had an epiphany on Ayahuasca. Now Deif procures a cornucopia of psychedelic substances for Elektrosar, the timeless EDM festival that runs sempiternally in the ancient Hanging Gardens of Babylon.
